HINTS AND IDEAS.
THINGS WORTH KNOWING
NURSERY CHINA.
Colourful and cheery china in the household is an asset; in the nursery it is essential and has an enormous influence over the kiddies. If a child takes an interest in its meals and eats, happily, good digestion and a contented mind are the result. The faddy child is so often the ailing child simply because it docs not feed regularly and sufficiently. Bright colours fascinate children of all ages from the very young baby in its pram. Gaily coloured china introduced into the nursery will do more to induce a child to "clear up" its plate than any amount of persuasion from mother or nurse. Numerous attractive and inexpensive nursery china tests may now be obtained from stores and. shops. Decorated in bright colours with quaint nursery-rhyme figures and amusing animal pictures, these sets will provide a source of endless delight to the bairns, who, in their joyful eagerness to see what is happening to the Dutch doll or funny animal at the bottom of the plate, will readily finish up their meal to the last scrap. Professed hunger just before bedtime is a popular excuse with children of all ages to stay up an extra half-hour. Besides making hot milk more enticing, the nursery nightcap will urge the junior folk upstairs to bed.
CARE OF THE NAILS,
Many people find that little white spots appear occasionally on their nails, in 6pite of careful manicuring. The spots used to be regarded by sonic superstitious folk as a sign of blessings or presents to come, but to the modern woman, who is less credulous, they are distinctly annoying, because they take so many weeks to grow to the top of the nail and disappear. These blemishes are often caused by knocking or squeezing the nail accidentally—shutting a door or a drawer on it—and by the consequent stoppage of the flow of nourishing juices to a particular part of the nail bed. It is not generally known that these marks can be remedied by the application of a very simple home-made recipe. Make a paste of turpentine and myrrh and put it on the nail before retiring to bed. The next morning you may remove the paste with the aid of a little olive oil, and the nails can then be manicured and polished as usual. ' After washing the hands and drying them thoroughly, if you make a habit of always pressing back the cuticle at the base of each nail, this will give the cuticle a regular massage treatment that will keep the nourishing juices flowing normally, and ensure that these small white marks are less likely to appear.
TO MEASURE CHAIR COVERS. Measure from the floor up over the back of the chair and down to the seat. Allow light niches for the "tuck-in" at (he back of the seat and seam allowance. Then measure across the depth of the seat and down to within 6in of the floor. Write this measurement down. Now measure from the side of the chair seat, over the arm, and down to within 6in of the floor. Add Sin for seam allowance and for give and take in the seat. Double this measurement for the other arm, and add to that already found. Allowance must then be made for the pleated frill, the usual, depth of which, is 7in. To this must be added 2in for hem and lin for the piping cord. Now measure loosely all round the chair, Gin above the floor. Multiply that measurement by three to get the length of the strip. ECONOMY HINTS. (1) When making new curtains, instead of sewing the rings on to the curtains, sew them on to wide ta,pe, then attach to the top of the curtain. In this way the curtains are easy to remove for washing, and if they are of plain material you can use either end, making them last longer. (2) Collect all old kid gloves, cut off backs and gauntlets, and machine together to together on three sides. This makes an ideal cover for a motoring cushion, and Avill wear for years. Old leather handbags can also be used for this. (3) An aluminium hot water bottle calls for a soft covering, so take two old stocking legs, join in the form of a bag, with a hem and drawstring at top; this makes an ideal cover. (4) Take a pair of silk stocking legs, hem top and bottom, and insert a piece of elastic. These make dainty and warm detachable sleeves for wearing under a thin' frock, with sleeves as an extra covering. OIL BENEFICIAL. Oil is as necessary to our interiors as it is to our exteriors, and particularly so to the growing child. But children will not swallow oil by the spoonful. As a compromise, one can give it in several forms. No article of food contains more oil than nuts, so one should include a liberal quantity to the children's menu. Almonds, Brazil nuts, walnuts and monkey nuts contain a valuable proportion of oil, not forgetting the common peanut, and should therefore conspicuously figure in the various sweets, pudding's and cakes, which are never refused by the young or old. An excellent way to give castor oil is serving it with dry ginger ale top and bottom, or it is easily swallowed and tasteless given in cold water. WASHING CHAIR COVERS. The bran water, such as required for washing loose chair covers, is made as follows: No stiffening is wanted. You require one part of the bran to four parts of cold water. Tie the bran in muslin, put in an old pan and add the water. Cover pan, bring to boil, remove pan from heat and allow to infuse for fifteen minutes. Pour off the liquid, add the same quantity of fresh water to bran and bring to the boil, and infuse again as the previous time. Then mix the two infusions and divide into three. Use two portions for washing snd one for rinsing. TO CLEAN BROWN SHOES. To clean rain-soiled brown shoes, try rubbing the spots with a flannel cloth dipped in warm water and daubed with soft soap. Do not make the cloth too wet —merely sufficiently moist to hold the soap. If this is not successful, wait till the shoes are thoroughly dry and dab the spots with benzine, and finish with a good leather cream. Remember that benzine is highly inflammable and must not be used near a lire or naked light of any description and not in strong sunlight. LEATHER STRAPS. Leather goods, such as straps, etc., can \be softened satisfactorily if a mixture of one part of vinegar and two parts of linseed oil is rubbed into the leather. If the leather straps arc very stiff, soak them for several hours in hot water and soft soap. Then polish with linseed oil.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 237, 7 October 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)
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1,153HINTS AND IDEAS. Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 237, 7 October 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)
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